Winning

One of my personal goals this year is to read at least one book per month. Guess what, it’s already May and I am just on my second book yet. 🤦🏻‍♀️

But still, I’m happy I have finished one already and this post is all about it.

The first book I finished to read this year is called Winning. I started reading it last January but I almost end up “losing” due to distractions and reasons, that I have finished it only last month (during the Lenten holidays). How slow, right? 🐢

Anyway, I have this book with me around six years already. I got it as a souvenir as one of the delegates of the 8th Aboitiz Future Leaders Business Summit (AFLBS) in 2013. That time, I already considered books as valuable gifts / tokens, however, it was only last year that I realized that I like autobiographies and self-help books more after I read Becoming by Michelle Obama.

So when I told myself that I’ll read more books this year, I knew I have enough unread books in the shelf and I am glad I put Winning first on the list.

Winning is basically a management book written by Jack Welch. He wrote it after he retired as a CEO for 20 years of General Electric, the company where he also spent his whole career from a junior chemical engineer to a CEO. This kind of success stories makes me really wonder how do they do that? How can one become a champion in the corporate world and even successfully lead a multi-billion business from a nobody to a somebody? I can’t even figure if this is really the career path for me yet, can I also become CEO? Well, as mentioned in the book:

It’s said that you can only live life forward and understand it backward. The exact same thing is true about careers.

Jack Welch, Winning

Back when I recently joined Arcadis as a Graduate Engineer in 2017, the new CEO then made rounds across the globe to meet people and visit offices. I was fortunate enough to be “randomly” invited in a small room meeting when he visited Manila office. Yet during the Q&A, I was so nervous to ask because the GEC Director (somewhat like a Country Director) and my Design Manager back then was also there…I know I was wrong that I haven’t used that chance to make memories – it’s not everyday that you could meet, ask and talk to the CEO, right? So when I shared that story to my work counterpart during my 2017 Hong Kong work trip, he was disappointed in me because I didn’t ask a single question. So yeah, I missed on that chance. Actually, my question was like: “What’s your advice to newbie engineers on how to be successful in their career? How’d you know that it’s the work that you really want to do or it’s the right job?” Which I later realized it was such a generic question yet I was overthinking that my manager would take it negatively…thinking I’m so lost already even I was just at the onset of my career.

Good thing, in Jack Welch’s Winning, there’s a segment that talks about “Your Career”. But first, I endured some topics I cannot fathom much yet (e.g. crisis management, and mergers and acquisitions to name a few) before I reached the most interesting part for me. But it was worth the wait and yes, it answered all that questions and there are plenty of advice too on finding the right job.

I learned that there are really no shortcuts. You may need to try several jobs before you find the right fit, you have to endure (bad bosses for example), sometimes there are trade-offs to make (you decide to choose the job because you like it even if the pay is low for example) but at all times do your best in anything you do.

So if you really want to find a great job, choose something you love to do, make sure you’re with people you like, and then give it your all.

If you do that, you’re sure to have a great job—and you’ll never really work another day in your life.

Jack Welch, Winning

But there are some points in the book that I can’t agree with 100%. Like the concept of differentiation where you basically reward the top 20% employees, eliminate the lowest 10% and motivate the middle 70%.

I also didn’t like the idea on the need to always exceed / deliver more than what’s expected for you to get that cash incentive, to finally get promoted because I feel everybody’s working hard and everyone deserves a bonus, raise or a promotion.

Well, these are real corporate sh*ts and we may not like it, but I like to believe this is how the corporate world still runs these days. We just need to find our way to thrive & to win.

To get ahead, you have to want to get ahead.

Jack Welch, Winning.

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It’s hard to win. It’s not even for everybody at the same time. In a game, one wins and the other loses. But the concept of winning makes life somehow interesting because if you win, you get a bonus, a better pay, a better house and even a better life. I have a long way to go to win big time but I am happy that I am winning at my small tasks at work (and personal life) day-to-day, I even got a free tumbler and string bag last Monday for “winning” a small contest in our office. It’s not really something huge but it feels great and that’s the beauty of it: if you do something to win, then you might really win.

Thank you to Aboitiz for this book, which I describe as a good guidebook for those who want to excel in the corporate world. And to Jack Welch+ for writing this book, may your soul rest in peace.

💛